THE FREE GAZA TEAM: Happy Birthday, Free Gaza August 24, 2010

Two years ago today, 44 people from 17 countries were on the Mediterranian heading toward Gaza. We were in two dilapidated fishing boats, the seas were rough, most of us were seasick, and all of us were worried that Israeli military warships would prevent us from getting into the illegally blockaded port of Gaza.

Israel had blocked our communications equipment; our two captains, long-time seafarers were working off compass and pieces of paper. At 3:00 pm, we saw the shores of Gaza, and no Israeli war ship was there to prevent us from sailing in to the raucus shouts, applause and joy of 20,000 imprisoned Palestinians waiting on shore, covering every inch of standable ground.

Except for a few media outlets in the Middle East, our historic trip was ignored. But we had outsmarted the Israeli military machine that had threatened us with bodily harm, cut off our communications equipment and finally, humphed off to ignore us. They had spent millions of dollars trying to stop us. We had spent $300,000 for the boats, captains, crew and fuel, plus a lot of energy and determination. Israel thought we were a bunch of activists who would go away after the first trip.

They were wrong.

We succesfully went in four more times, taking in another 100+ witnesses, European members of Parliament, charity workers from the Gulf, doctors, activists who stayed to work in Gaza, and Palestinians who just wanted to go home and visit. We brought out 38 Palestinians, including students who had visas to attend universities, yet Israel would not allow them to leave.

Although our accomplishments were small, sailing in with no Israeli attempts to stop us set a precedent. They knew the blockade was illegal. They hoped we would go away.

Today, on the second anniversary of that historic voyage, we are still sailing. As one of our activists said after the Freedom Flotilla was attacked, âWe have suddenly become sexy. Everyone wants to go with us. We have requests from media around the world asking us to please save them a seat. Even in the U.S., the media wants to come.â It is tragic that 9 men lost their lives to put the blockade of Gaza on the map and equally tragic that thousands of Palestinians have lost their lives with no reaction from the international community.

We have grown from the five of us who began this initiative to hundreds around the world, from the occupied West Bank to occupied New York to India to Australia. From the two small boats that landed on August 23, 2008, we grew to six ships in the last flotilla, and will have nine to twelve in the flotilla this fall. There are boat initiatives in the U.S., the UK, Belgium, Holland, Australia, Canada and Ireland.

Although many in the Western media have tried to spin the story that the Freedom Flotilla was a Turkish effort, it was not.It was an international one. Of the 650 passengers on board, half were Turkish and the rest came from around the world.The Free Gaza movement spearheaded the flotilla, collected the coalition members and helped them find boats to sail. We were the ones with the experience. Now six members of the coalition have the same experience and are eager to sail again.

Although the supplies on the cargo ships were supplies that Israel has forbidden to the people of Gaza, our primary objective has always been to break Israelâs illegal siege on 1.5 million Palestinians, denying them the right to trade, movement and freedom.

We have accomplished only part of what we set out to doâŚput the imprisonment of Palestinians of Gaza on the front page. But that is not close to being enough.

For those who say we have no right to challenge Israel, we say we do. If governments refuse to act, we, as citizens of the world, will sail. If Israel says they have the right to stop us, we say they do not. We sail from international waters into the waters of Gaza and never come near Israel. If Israel says it has the right to inspect our cargo, we say the cargo is inspected by certified inspectors at the point of embarcation and does not need further inspection. If Israel says the Palestinians have no right to rebuild their society after Israel bombed it to dust, we say they have every right to rebulid. And international law is on our side, not on the side of the occupier.

If Israel says they have the right to attack us in international waters, citing âsecurity issuesâ, we say, along with an increasing number of Israelis as well as political analysts worldwide, âIt is the violence of the occupation that continues to destroy the hope of any security for Israelis and Palestinians. The upholding of international law is the only way to security and peace for any of us.â

So, happy birthday, Free Gaza. We have much more to do. In partnership with the Palestinians, human rights groups and supporters throughout the world, may we continue to sail.We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support, donations and advocacy.